Isaiah Nixon was a World War II veteran, a husband, a father of six and a farmer in Montgomery County, Georgia. He had served his country overseas and returned home hoping to build a quiet life with his family. In 1948, however, Nixon made a decision that would cost him his life: he went to the polls and voted, despite being warned not to.
Nixon was active in the local NAACP and supported Melvin E. Thompson in Georgia’s gubernatorial election. At the time, Black political participation was becoming a major threat to the racial order that had dominated Georgia for generations. The Ku Klux Klan, led by Samuel Green, supported Thompson’s opponent and encouraged intimidation and violence against Black people who attempted to vote.
On September 8, 1948, Nixon went to the polls to vote in the Georgia Democratic primary. A poll worker warned him not to vote, but Nixon refused to be intimidated. He cast his ballot and returned home, believing he had simply exercised a basic right of citizenship.
That evening, two white brothers, J.A. Johnson and Johnnie Johnson, arrived at Nixon’s home. What happened during that visit would leave Nixon fighting for his life. J.A. Johnson shot him three times, and Nixon died from his wounds two days later. He was only 28 years old, leaving behind his wife and six children.
The Johnson brothers were indicted and tried in November 1948. Prosecutors, assisted by an NAACP lawyer, argued that the brothers had gone to Nixon’s home because of his vote and had intended to kill him. The defense offered a different explanation, claiming that the brothers had gone there to discuss employing Nixon and that J.A. Johnson had fired in self-defense after Nixon attacked them with a knife.
The jury was all white, and both brothers were acquitted. No one was convicted for Nixon’s killing.
The verdict caused outrage beyond Montgomery County because of what the case represented. Nixon was a veteran who had served his country during World War II, but after returning home, he could not safely exercise his right to vote. His death became a powerful example of the violence that could accompany Black political participation in the Jim Crow South.
Newspapers across America took notice. The editorial board of the Ledger-Enquirer called for a complete investigation, while a widely syndicated newspaper article warned that “all persons’ right to vote is endangered when Isaiah Nixon is killed for voting.”
Support for Nixon’s family came from outside Georgia as well. Pittsburgh businessmen established a fund for his widow and children that raised several thousand dollars, with opera singer Carol Brice helping promote the effort. Nixon’s widow also tried to meet Georgia representative John Stephens Wood to discuss racial violence, although it is unclear whether the meeting ever happened.
Nixon’s murder eventually became part of the national civil rights record. His name was included in the 1951 petition We Charge Genocide, which accused the United States of systematic violence and persecution against African Americans.
With time, however, Isaiah Nixon began to disappear from public memory. His family left Georgia, and even his grave was forgotten. For 67 years, the man who had been murdered for voting lay in an unmarked grave, his story slowly fading into history.
Then, in 2015, someone went looking for him.
Researchers from Emory University’s Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project reopened Nixon’s case. After examining historical records and investigating the circumstances surrounding his death, they concluded that his murder was racially motivated and that his killers had been wrongfully acquitted.
The researchers also found something his family had been unable to locate for 67 years: his grave.
Nixon had been buried in an unmarked grave on the outskirts of Old Salem Cemetery near Uvalda, Georgia. His final resting place had remained unknown for more than six decades until researchers finally uncovered it.
The discovery brought a forgotten story back into the light. Isaiah Nixon was not a famous politician or a powerful civil rights leader. He was a farmer, a husband, a father and a veteran who went to the polls despite being warned not to vote.
His story is a reminder of how dangerous the fight for basic rights could be for Black Americans during the Jim Crow era. It also shows why voting rights became such a central part of the Civil Rights Movement that followed.
Sources:
https://news.emory.edu/features/2019/04/uncovering-buried-truths
